they had a special senate committee hearing today and invited a research group that specializes in energy pricing and what they found was after months of research, they could not explain why we had those gas price hikes in may and in october. that's the mystery there. they can't explain it. but it did cost californians in october about $1 billion. >> reporter: when prices spiked at the gas station the 7 gas companies in california said it's not our fault. instead, they blamed accidents like the chevron refinery fire or unexpected maintenance problems. but the biggest price spikes were in may and october. that's months before and after the chevron fire in august. >> we have seen shifts in price of gasoline. >> reporter: it's one of the reason senator mark leno called a committee hearing today. they found that in may, gas prices shot up to 4.41 a gallon which is the equivalent of $48 million in profit a day for the gas companies. in october, they were hiked even higher to $4.71 a gallon. but because of supply, the profit slightly lower for companies but still $25 million a day. >> i feel ce